KOZHIKODE: The state witnessed a string of blood-curdling murders of children and fraud attempts by women last year, exposing the changing profile of society. Top cops say cases involving women are still low in state, if that is a consolation
For a few years, some sensational crimes allegedly committed by women have hogged headlines in Kerala. From Saritha Nair and Jolly Joseph to Swapna Suresh, the state has been witnessing a trend of women figuring prominently in such crimes.Last year saw women involved in some cold-blooded crimes. In February, a 22-year-old woman was arrested on charges of killing her one-and-a-half-year-old son by hurling him on to the beach rocks to live with her lover in Kannur. In December, Nedumangad police arrested a 28-year-old woman for allegedly murdering and burying her three-day-old child behind her house to cover up an extramarital affair.
According to Manoj Abraham, ADGP, State Crime Records Bureau, “In general, the number of crimes committed by women remains low, but certain rare cases get noticed easily and become sensational. Even now, the common crimes committed by women are theft and fraud. Very few murder cases involving women come up every year, but those become sensational. We can’t really say there is a noticeable growth in cases of murder committed by women, but there were a few blood-curdling murders.”
Rishiraj Singh, DGP, Prisons and Correctional Services, said Kerala is one of the states which have very few woman jail inmates. “Our women’s jails have around 350 employees but the number of prisoners is fewer than that. A majority of the inmates are non-Keralites. Only a few commit crimes in Kerala.”
On February 17 in 2020, a Monday, Kannur Thayyil native Pranav lodged a complaint with Kannur City police saying his son Viyan, who was sleeping with him, was missing when he woke up the next morning. Later, his body was found near the beach rock in Thayyil. Though Viyan’s mother Saranya had denied any role during interrogation initially, she later confessed that she threw the child on the rock to kill him so that she could elope with her lover.
In the Nedumangad case, Viji, who has two daughters aged nine and six, had been living separately from her husband for five years. She got pregnant again from an extramarital affair. She strangled her three-day-old baby and buried her behind the house. She fooled her relatives and neighbours during pregnancy by claiming she had a tumour in stomach.
Fraud and honeytrap
Last year also saw honeytrap and scams involving women. The gold smuggling involving Swapna Suresh is still a hot topic in the state. In another case, a Wayanad-based woman, K K Bindu, was arrested in December for mortgaging 5.5kg of imitation gold at the Union Bank branch on PM Taj Road in Kozhikode and duping it of I1,69,51,385.
The Infopark police in Kochi on October 30 arrested three men and a woman in connection with laying of a honey trap that culminated in the murder of Kollam native Divakaran Nair, 65, whose body was found from Kakkanad on October 25. The arrested were Anilkumar, 37, Sanjay, 23, Rajesh, 37, and Shanifa, 55. In another case, a four-member gang, including a 23-year-old woman, was arrested by the Thrikkakara police for allegedly ensnaring a young businessman from Pachalam in Kochi city in a honeytrap. The gang captured the victim’s nude photographs and used these for blackmailing him.
Some sensational crimes in 2020
A 22-year-old woman arrested on charges of killing her one-and-a-half-year-old son by hurling him on to the beach rock in Kannur’s Thayyil in February 2020
On July 5, 2020, 30kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized by the customs at Thiruvananthapuram airport from a diplomatic bag and Swapna Suresh, former executive secretary at the UAE Consulate emerged as a key accused
A four-member gang, including a 23-year-old woman, arrested by Thrikkakara police for allegedly ensnaring a young businessman from Pachalam in a honeytrap in August
On October 30, the Infopark police in Kochi arrested three men and a woman in connection with the laying of a honey trap that culminated in the murder of 65-year-old Divakaran Nair
A Wayanad native woman arrested for mortgaging 5.5kg of imitation gold at Union Bank branch on PM Taj Road in Kozhikode and duping it of D1,69,51,385 in December
Nedumangad police arrested a 28-year-old woman for allegedly murdering and burying her three-day-old child behind her house to cover up an extramarital affair in December